I wish I could meet ..., the literary edition

Carolyn Kellogg

A quick perusal of the popular hashtag #IWishICouldMeet on Twitter led to a couple of conclusions. First, more than anything, people want to meet Justin Bieber, although Jesus is a close second. And a lot of people would like to be able to be another person meeting themselves, or their true love, whoever that might be.

There didn't seem to be many bookish figures in the mix, so Tuesday morning we asked people on Twitter what authors or fictional characters they'd like to meet. A pair of Jane Austen's characters immediately jumped to the top of the list — Elizabeth Bennet and her dreamy Mr. Darcy just about tied. Another tie was between villains and heroes; people wanted to meet them in equal measure.

As for authors, there was taciturn Cormac McCarthy, author of "The Road," "Blood Meridian," "All the Pretty Horses," "The Crossing" and "No Country for Old Men." Although he generally eschews the limelight, meeting him might actually be possible. Not so for many others people tweeted about — writers such as William Faulkner and Truman Capote long ago shuffled off this mortal coil.

Below are some of the Tweets we recieved about authors and characters people would like to meet. Got one? Send it to us @latimesbooks.